General Motors to lay off 4,000 workers in North America

General Motors announced that it would lay off roughly 4,000 of its North American workers beginning on Monday. This is part of a plan the company came up with to close five North American facilities and shrink its workforce by 15 percent.

Here's what we know

A source inside this company assured NBC News that while these layoffs were bad, they would not be as bad as "Black Friday," referring to the massive layoffs that occurred before GM filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

In a statement announcing the move, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the layoffs and other cuts were "about making sure that GM is lean and agile." These cutbacks and plant closures will reportedly save the GM $3 billion in 2019 and $6 billion by the end of 2020.

According to GM spokesman Pat Morrissey, who spoke to Reuters:

These actions are necessary to secure the future of the company, including preserving thousands of jobs in the U.S. and globally. We are taking action now while the overall economy and job market are strong, increasing the ability of impacted employees to continue to advance in their careers, should they choose to do so.

GM said that the employees who are laid off will be offered severance packages and job placement services.

What else?

GM first announced in November that it planned to close five of its U.S. facilities: assembly facilities in Detroit; Warren, Ohio; and Oshawa, Ontario, Canada; as well as at propulsion plants in White Marsh, Maryland; and Warren, Michigan. The company had initially planned to trim its workforce by 17,700, by offering employees voluntary buyouts. However, only 2,300 workers accepted these buyouts.

After GM announced the plant closures, President Donald Trump threatened to end its government subsidies. The U.S. government gives car companies a $7,500 federal tax credit for every electric vehicle that they sell, up to 200,000 vehicles.

Despite the financial strain that Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have caused to the manufacturing sector, GM told TheBlaze in November that "[t]hese decisions are being made as part of our ongoing transformation and are not related to recent trade or tariff decisions."